In David Foster Wallace’s “This is Water” he speaks about how most people are crafted with very similar thoughts in mind. According to Foster all people hold one same character trait from birth. When looking at Wallace’s usage of “Default Setting” throughout the speech, we can see it referred to as a trait that people are cursed with, but as the speech progresses Wallace introduced a contradiction pertaining to his usage, which most readers overlook, this is important because Wallace goes against everything he prior said about the default setting, and makes the trait seem as if it is imperative for success.

Wallace is first seen using “Default Setting” in his third paragraph. To this point in the speech the connotation was considered to be neutral, which can be seen when he links self centeredness to a natural human characteristic. But Wallace then referred to the “Default Setting” as something that was “hard wired into our boards” (Wallace, XI). It is in this instance that the connotation morphs to negative. The negativity is seen through the fact that you cannot get rid of it because it is wired into people. If Wallace had used the phrase “All people have a Default Setting” it could have been seen as something that was neutral, but instead it was his reasoning for why people have the setting, that gave “Default Setting” a negative connotation because it leads people to believe that it is a program that was installed in them. Further into paragraph three Wallace uses “Default Setting” to explain this instance is in this quote. “Everything in my own immediate experience supports my deep belief that I am the absolute center of the universe, the realest, most vivid and important person in existence” (Wallace, XI).  Wallace’s quote explains that “Default Setting” is a  synonym for self conceit and narcissism because in this instance Wallace put himself before others. In most cases, someone that puts them-self before others, usually does so because they are under the impression that they are better than that other person, and the “Default Setting” creates a false hierarchy. Its usage in this paragraph adds to the entire message of the writing by making it clear that the “Default Setting” has your thoughts queued higher than others, thus having no consideration for others.

Wallace next uses “Default Setting” in the fifth paragraph, and similar to that in the last paragraph, the connotation in paragraph five also is negative. At first, one may come to the conclusion that the connotation was neutral but after analyzing the quote “Adjusting our default-setting involves actual knowledge or intellect” (Wallace XI), it is clear that the connotation is negative. In this instance “Default Setting” has a negative meaning because Wallace offers the possibility that the “Default Setting” can be altered or changed. If the “Default Setting” is a good quality, why would it need to be changed? Assessing on whether this instance of “Default Setting” is negative, it could be argued that “If it’s not broken then it doesn't need to be fixed.” But here Wallace makes it clear that it is broken and it does need to be fixed, because someone with intelligence is the only one in a right mind to be able to redesign such a catastrophic quality. The context used here in paragraph fives adds to the theme of  “Default Setting” being the horrible quality that forces people to think in a selfish manner and that people are cursed with it, because of the fact that Wallace brings up, adjusting this quality, that was “hard wired into our boards.”

Following Wallace’s last usage of “Default Setting” he brings on a different meaning in the fourteenth paragraph. “Default Setting” in this is seen as a positive to most, because of this quote. 

“ And the world will not discourage you from operating on your default-settings, because the world of men and money and power hums along quite nicely on the fuel of fear and contempt and frustration and craving and the worship of self. Our own present culture has harnessed these forces in ways that have yielded extraordinary wealth and comfort and personal freedom” (Wallace, XVI).

This quote leads the reader to believe that it is possible to achieve vast wealth through the “Default Setting.” From a faulty perception of Wallace’s use of  “Default Setting” the reader believes the setting can help achieve this because you will be acting for yourself, putting “your needs”, “your wants”, and “your goals” ahead of everyone else's, because “you” are at the center of every situation. But really what Wallace wants the reader to see is that actually what is being said is simply just a mockery. Wallace is attacking the “Default Setting” by pointing out that using it in this fashion is greedy and disappointing. From this fragment of the previous quote, “the world will not discourage you” Wallace is trying to hint the reader that nobody will stop “you” from using the “Default setting” only “you” can stop yourself from using it. By leaving the decision up to the reader on whether using the “Default Setting” is the right thing,  it allows the reader to deeper analyze the situation and come to the conclusion that using the “Default Setting” to achieve wealth is greedy. It turns the reader to pair “Default Setting” with greed, because the reader supposes that if they were to put themselves first in every situation, regardless of the situation then profitability will be close by. At first it seems as Wallace is going to contradict himself, but by looking deeper it is visible that “Default Setting” continues to be looked at as a negative because it is associated with greed and self indulgence. 

Throughout the speech Wallace frequently  used the term “Default Setting” throughout his speech and linked it to human actions, which then made it  clear that the setting it is a human trait that everyone has. In most of its usages Wallace painted “default Setting” as a trait that humans are haunted by. Wallace does so by associating it with a program and insisting that it could be altered. But through thorough investigation the perceived connotation of default setting changes from negative to positive. Following the cons of the default setting Wallace then introduced wealth and success as pros of the setting. Purposefully Wallace first mentions the negatives of the default setting so its true meaning can be uncovered when looking how the cons are outweighed by the pros. This highlights that the “Default Setting” allows you to achieve the most for yourself and by using it correctly you can benefit greatly in any situation.
